Bloodied Ice
by The-rogue-shadow
Summary: After a blizzard cut Beacon off from the outside world, Weiss was left without a vital medicine that stopped her from a terrifying darkness that was her birthright. A darkness that could only be sated by blood.
1. Chapter 1

In the town of Vale, where the greatest huntress school in the world; Beacon Academy had its home, there existed a hidden darkness that encompassed the village. It rested over the citizens like a gossamer veil, long shadows always somewhere in sight.

The Academy itself, with its grand emerald lights, overlooked the town like a great protector, an eagle protecting its young. It was here that Weiss Schnee, heiress to the most successful dust company on the planet, studied and lived. All the while suppressing her birthright.

Weiss frowned as she looked at herself in the mirror, wiping away the fog on the cold glass with a pale hand. The blizzard that had all but buried Beacon the week previously had taken a huge toll on the students, but her more than most. From the time she was thirteen, Weiss had been struggling with the worst kinds of urges, ones that involved being close to another, closer than people would ever understand. But she repressed those feelings, forcing them deep down inside her with the help of her father. As a part of this, she was required to ingest a special medicine every day to keep herself from acting on the darkness she felt inside. Unfortunately, the blizzard had cut communications to the outside world, and her weekly shipment had long since run out and with no way to get it soon. Things were going to get messy, very fast.

Weiss' bloodline on her mother's side was cursed with being what the natives of Atlas called 'Grimm-born'; those born with Grimm markings on their bones. Many of these unfortunate individuals lived their entire lives unhindered by the glowing red markings on their skeleton. But there were some that were not so lucky. Grimm-born that were exposed to excess amounts of dust often had their darkness activated. This darkness took on many different forms, but it never ended well for those afflicted. Her mother, Lilie Schnee, had died not long after sprouting enormous black feathered wings. Not that Weiss knew any of that; she always thought her mother had died in a dust accident when she was very little, and it was the lie that her father had perpetuated for her entire life.

Weiss, however, had a much different power to her mother. With blade-sharp teeth she tore into human flesh and sucked forth blood to sustain her. It had only happened once; to her personal tutor when she was thirteen, and since then she was terrified of losing control. Lest the guilt of the terrible act overwhelm her. The medicine she took was a dust neutraliser, used in dust mining to make unstable mineshafts safer. It was toxic in large doses, but she took just enough to lessen the vicious cravings that not only threatened her secret, but the lives of the people she held most dear; her team-mates and friends.

Her second set of teeth, Beowolf-like fangs that hid in her jawbones, had already started to descend. Ivory pinpricks poking through the pink jaws with tiny dots of blood.

"This is your own fault Weiss. You should always have had an emergency stash," she scolded herself as she wrapped a towel around her head. Ruby had pushed them extra hard in training during the lead up to their mid-year exams. Though Ruby had mainly been focussing on the practical side of the examinations, leaving the theory to Weiss. The red-obsessed dolt had called it 'teamwork.' Back in their room, she found Yang hanging upside down from her bed, doing sit ups as she flicked through a thick history tome.

"That can't be good for you," Weiss said as she started getting dressed. Yang just chuckled, murmuring the word 'fifty-seven'. "Where are the other girls?"

"Sixty… Uh, they met up with Jaune, Phyrra and Ren, sixty-one, something about stocking up on supplies now that we can get down to the city. Sixty-two." Yang explained, not taking her eyes off the book.

"Oh good, I have to get my dust theory book off Nora anyway. But I swear, if she used it for target practice like her own copy of the book I'm going to throw her out a window," the heiress growled as she pulled on her favourite white jeans. Nora lived across the hall, and while Weiss could tell she was smart by her marks, but there was something about the girl that always seemed… off to Weiss. Might have been her predilection for weapons and violence. Not quite at Ruby's level, but ultimately she was the one who killed the Death Stalker during their initiation, with one massive hammer blow to the head.

"You worry too much, seventy-four. I lend her stuff and she never breaks it, Seventy five."

"What about that figurine of Gavin from 'The Achieve Men?"

"We don't talk about that," Yang replied in a deadpan tone, pausing halfway through a sit up. Weiss smiled slyly, sauntering toward the door with all of the self-righteousness she could muster in her weary form. As she reached for the handle, however, she felt an intense pain in the back of her head, like the worst kinds of migraines that make a person pass out for hours at a time. She stumbled, colliding with the thick wood. "Woah! Are you alright?" Came Yang's voice. It was hard to hear though, as if Weiss was listening to the world from underwater.

"Y-yeah. I'm just a bit tired. And I'm quite hungry," she replied, exiting the bedroom without looking back. Once she was sure that Yang wouldn't come after her, she breathed a sigh of relief. The blonde girl had this weird ability to know when something was wrong with her friends at the briefest glance. But she couldn't know, couldn't understand what was going through her mind that that very moment; the sweet smell of hot copper smothering her skin as she rolled around in crimson fluid.

She gave her head a violent shake to try and dislodge such thoughts, but they persisted, stuck in her mind like a fly caught in a blood-stained web. Rubbing the bridge of her nose, she crossed the hall, too distracted by her ailment to remember to knock. Barging in, she was met with a high pitched squeal, which today seemed amplified by ten times the norm. Shooting a dark look at the source of the noise, she found Nora standing in the middle of the room, wearing only pale pink underwear and a blush encompassing the entirety of her body. Weiss' breathing began to accelerate, as her second set of teeth dropped lower in her mouth.

As soon as she saw who had entered her room in full, Nora stopped screaming, instead smiling happily.

"Oh Weiss, you scared me you silly! I thought you were one of those creepy guys from CRDL!" she exclaimed as she ran a hand through her damp hair. Weiss had long since stopped paying attention, her ears filled with a steady 'thud thud.' Her mouth felt dry, aching for some kind of moisture. "Was there something you needed?" Nora continued, putting her hands on her hips before cocking them to the side.

"You…" Weiss growls, reaching behind her, and, with a flick of her wrist, locking the door. "I need you."


	2. Chapter 2- Remorse

Nora's bare skin, red with blush, went even redder as Weiss rushed across the small room toward her. The white-haired girl's strides had her face to face with Nora in moments, pale tongue running over her lips as she surveyed the muscular frame in front of her. Weiss' hearing was filled with a booming 'thud thud' with the pace steadily increasing. Her abdomen contracted painfully, vicious hunger that she had never felt before. Weiss reached out a shaking hand, running her fingertips across Nora's pale skin at her side. The red-head gasped at the touch, her eyes remaining fixed on Weiss'.

"W-Weiss, what are you doing?" Nora asked quietly, as her mouth got closer to those of the hungry heiress. "I never knew you… Liked this kind of thing." Weiss closed her eyes, leaning closer until her lips brushed against Nora's. Weiss could feel the other girl's expectant breath, all the while, a trickle of her own blood ran down the back of her throat as her scalpel-sharp fangs pushed further through the gums. There was no more waiting, no more hesitating. Pressure built behind her eyes, the desire to tear skin and flesh to sate her hunger.

She opened her eyes, her normally pale blue irises now grimm-red and her pupils now feline in appearance.

"You're nothing but a tool to satisfy my desire," replied Weiss, moving her mouth down to Nora's neck, pressing her lips to the skin softly. Nora's neck muscles tensed at the contact, her skin heating up in stark contrast to Weiss' natural cold.

"Okay," Nora breathed. "Do whatever you want. I can't say I haven't thought about it."

"I'll take you up on that." With a click, Weiss' fangs descended to their full length. With inhuman strength and speed, Weiss bent Nora backward, her fangs disappearing into the tough muscle and malleable arterial wall. Unpracticed technique made it messy as blood forced its way past the poor seal of her mouth, spraying her face with blood. Her prey never screamed, never had the chance before she was forced to the floor. It was only moments before she felt a gentle pounding on the side of her leg; some last vestiges of resistance struggling to get the beast away from her. Weiss readjusted, biting down harder and harder. Each push came with a rush of sweet, metallic flavour pouring down her throat. Every time she swallowed the liquid life, the headache receded, the hunger felt sated, and red markings appeared all over her body. The markings of a true grimm.

It wasn't long before Weiss felt full, her body devoid of unholy desires. She dropped Nora, the other girl's head hitting the rug with a soft thud. Her eyes had glazed over, completing the look of terror on her face. The heiress rose; using her knitted jumper to wipe the splatterings of blood from her face. She shot a quick look down at the carnage she had created; a friend lying on her back with greyed skin and a neck now unrecognisable. The wound was a mess, torn tendons sticking out from between the flaps of shredded muscle and eviscerated veins.

"No… not again," she cried as the bloodlust lifted from her mind. She dropped to the floor once more, checking for a pulse and finding barely the weak 'thud' of a working heart. She was, however, still breathing, which Weiss felt immensely thankful for; there was still a chance that a death would not be on her conscience. She pulled her scroll from her back pocket, dialling emergency services before stopping halfway through and setting the call to 'anonymous.' It took five rings before anyone picked up, and lowering her voice as much as she could, Weiss simply told them to come quickly, relaying the room number only once before hanging up.

Weiss ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. The guilt hadn't even set in yet, nor the gravity of what she had actually done. She'd become, if only for a moment, one of the beasts that the school, that she, had sworn to hunt and kill. Weiss had all but killed a girl she considered a friend in some animalistic rage, and what was worst; she was going to run from it, with all of her might. As heiress to the Schnee dust corporation, she could never be tied with an act such as what she'd just done. And no one could ever find out about her birthright.

Weiss waited with Nora for as long as she could, making sure that she was still breathing right up until she heard the paramedics running up the hallway toward the room, at which point she made a break for the window, and from there; the roof. She discarded her now blood-soaked jumper, stashing it in the inner workings of an air conditioner, and then made her way back to her room as nonchalantly as possible.

When she got back to her room, Weiss found Yang, Ren and, much to her surprise, Professor Ozpin standing in the hallway talking. Yang was the first to spot her, waving her over. Weiss could see the sad look on her face and instantly knew that she had seen Nora.

"What's going on here?" Weiss asked calmly, years of lying about her nature being put to the test.

"It's… It's Nora. It looks like she was attacked by… something," Yang explained, putting an arm around a terrified looking Ren.

"I don't understand? Was it a grimm or what?"

"That matter is still undetermined, Miss Schnee. But rest assured that we are going to do everything in our power to help Miss Valkyrie," said Ozpin in his typical monotone expression. His steaming mug of coffee was oddly missing this time, which made Weiss very uneasy.

"I-Is she going to be okay?" Ren all but whispered to the headmaster. Ozpin placed a hand gently on his shoulder, his aura bursting with warmth.

"I'm not going to lie to you; she's quite obviously lost a lot of blood. But I do think we got here in time and that she'll eventually make a full recovery. I promise," he told him, the corner of his lip turning upwards in a smile. "In the meantime, I need you all to swear not to mention this to anyone but your team mates. Do you understand?" The three of them accepted the terms, mostly due to the fact that they were still in a state of shock more than actual understanding of what he was saying. Ozpin smiled once more, his eyes showing the concern that they wanted, before turning and leaving. Weiss watched him go as Yang led Ren inside their room, offering him all sorts of things to take his mind off what had happened. Weiss wanted to tell them, to tell all of them that it was her fault. But her mouth remained closed, and yet she could still feel the unmistakable pressure of her fangs pressing against the roots of her normal teeth, and the taste of copper coating the inside of her cheek.

Weiss went inside, only to find Ren passed out on Blake's bed and Yang rubbing the bridge of her nose.

"He was starting to go into hysterics, so I put him to sleep for a few hours," Yang explained, not even bothering to wait for the inevitable question. "But you know what Weiss? I don't care what Ozpin says, I'm going to find this thing, and tear it's windpipe from its body and make a flute with it." Yang's eyes had changed to red, just like Weiss' had for that one bloody moment.

"I hope you get the chance Yang. Whatever it was deserves to die for what it's done," replied Weiss as her fingernails cut into her palm. The only penance she could think of at the time. "And somehow I know it's going to pay. One way or the other."


	3. Chapter 3- Semblance of Normality

As with any school, rumour of what had happened to Nora had spread through the Beacon campus quickly, prompting as much fear and suspicion as would be expected. While it was thought to be fact that she had been attacked by a rogue Grimm, the sheer thought of that sowed the seeds of panic amongst the students. To his credit, Ozpin had taken the blame, scorn and concerns from his pupils well, his often sage advice had calmed some of the initial panic, but even Weiss could see the cracks starting to appear.

She sat in the Mess Hall, gritting her teeth at the pain the sound of conversation was causing her. She did her best to hide it, for the sake of not only herself, but also of her friends. Blake and Phyrra had placed themselves in charge of looking after Ren, the young man's face stained with near-constant tears. Yang, Ruby and Jaune sat in silence, white knuckles wrapped around their cutlery. Out of everyone, Weiss could tell that they had taken the whole thing worse than the others; Ren included. Those three in particular lived to be the hero, to protect their friends and the people around them. The fact that they couldn't do anything was tearing them up inside, a fact of which Weiss fell completely guilty.

The heiress kept telling herself that she wasn't sorry, that what she did was out of survival and that Nora was going to live; that she didn't do permanent damage. But the truth was that she wanted to cry; to tell the truth and accept every punishment that was owed to her. But she would never do it. Fear of the truth was the only thing that stopped her. But what was worse; she knew that it could very well happen again. The medicine that supressed her Grimm-born powers had still yet to arrive, the shipping company having run into problems involving ice around the Vale docks, making it impossible for them to land and unload.

Weiss rose from the table with a start as the morning bell rung, signalling the start of morning classes. Her friends all lazily rose to her feet, motivation erased and replaced with sadness and rage. Ruby flipped her red hood over her eyes, obscuring them from the world and Yang's eyes had not been their usual violet since the attack two days earlier.

Even the curriculum had changed, Professor Port's classes now being all about protecting yourself and even entire villages from ambushes by hordes of Grimm all the way down to a single one. Weiss could tell that it was making everyone uncomfortable and Ren had even excused himself almost immediately. She knew the reasoning behind it all, for the school to present itself as safe and on top of the situation, even to the point of treating the attack as some kind of test. Weiss rubbed the tiredness from her eyes, her thumb brushing gently over the skin of her scar.

"Yes Miss Schnee?" came Port's voice from the front of the room. Weiss snapped out of her trance to discover that her hand was raised. Apparently the questions clawing at her brain could not wait to be asked. She swallowed the lump in her throat, lowering her hand quickly.

"W-Well Professor, and I'm sorry to interrupt mind you. But I had a question about types of Grimm," she stuttered, clenching her fist. The rotund Professor raised a questioning eyebrow, but nevertheless nodded.

"Is there a particular type of Grimm you would like to discuss, or are you being more… general in your inquiry?"

"I um… I want to know if there are Grimm that… That drink blood." The class stopped, a single held breath between the students. Weiss was certain she heard a pencil drop somewhere. Port stroked his moustache as he moved to the front of his desk, leaning against it.

"That is an oddly specific question Miss Schnee, might I inquire as to why this came to mind?" asked the older man. Weiss' eyes were on the verge of tears, a confession on the tip of her tongue. In her periphery, she could see Yang gripping the wood of her desk so hard that she was leaving visible cracks.

"I-I uh… Well it's kind of embarrassing," said Weiss, the cunning lie spewing forth from her mouth, absent of her mind. "But I remember old fairy tales from Atlas talking about such a beast. They've always intrigued me, the idea of them. But I've never been able to find anything about them in our textbooks, that's all." Weiss scratched her head, a subtle way of wiping the sweat from her brow. She could endure the snickers from her classmates. The alternatives were worse.

"Ah, I see!" Port laughed, his large belly shaking and his voice booming. "I too remember those majestic tales. They were some of my favourites as a young man! But, to answer your question. Yes, there are some rare Grimm that feast on human and Faunus blood. This, as you know, makes them unique, since they are the only known type of Grimm to actually eat any part of a person. Usually, Grimm only attack us for the sake of killing, which makes these beasts quite the fearsome fellows."

"What are they called?" she asked, trying to mask her fear behind curiosity.

"These Grimm are native to Atlas, one of the few breeds to only nest in one kingdom. We call them Orescreech…" The professor continued to ramble, stories of his boyhood and the tales he heard as a child spewing forth from his mouth. But the heiress was no longer there, she had drifted away, memories of Nora's delectable blood cascading through her. But she could not help but dwell on one idea; she knew what form her Grimm-born blood had taken.

Class ended before her trance had faded. Weiss' body running autonomously as she followed her friends through the grand halls of Beacon. People were talking, but it sounded muffled, as though she was listening to it from underwater. Suddenly she was shunted to the side, colliding with a bench seat against a wall, she gritted her teeth against the pain in her shin, shooting a dark look at the culprit; Yang Xiao Long.

"Ooh, sorry Weiss. I was just trying to snap you out of your little day dream," she said apologetically.

"You could have just called my name or something," grumbled Weiss.

"We did, all of us separately," Phyrra told her, causing Weiss to blush with embarrassment. But it was more than that, she scolded herself. She was fearful that her behaviour would display guilt to the more clued-in members of her group. She was especially worried about Blake and Phyrra; out of anyone, they seemed to have an uncanny ability to read a person's feelings.

"Sorry everyone, I'm just a little-"

"It's okay Weiss, we understand," Ruby said, offering her partner a comforting smile. "We're all a little on edge. Which is why we're going to go and visit Nora in the medical ward."

Weiss paled, voice caught in her throat and fists clenched tightly.

"I-Is she awake? I hadn't heard!" she exclaimed, trying not to sound as horrifyingly surprised as she actually was. Ruby shook her head, sighing.

"Uh, no, she hasn't woken up. But Ren talked to Professor Ozpin after he left class and he said we could go and see her," Ruby explained and Weiss couldn't help but notice the fact that her partner's red cloak was slowly being wrapped around the younger girl.

"Okay, let's go see Nora," Weiss said, forcing a small smile, while the voice inside her head screamed; 'More like; let's go see my victim,'


End file.
